We awoke to a glorious December day in the Algarve with clear blue skies & sun. Having had a long journey the previous day & with supplies bought the previous evening, we stayed-put at the house to unpack, settle & enjoy our surroundings.
The following morning, on Saturday, we headed into nearby Loulé for the town’s well-known market. However, just a couple of days before Christmas, the gypsy market was a disappointment with just a few stalls. The produce market was buzzing & we bought fresh fruit, veg & cheese before heading off the the supermarket for food (& booze) enough for Christmas & beyond.
I was determined to walk the beach on Christmas Day & had looked forward to this for weeks!
Although the day was cloudy, it was warm & the car park at Faro beach was busier than I expected. It was great to wander across the sand with the dogs, before sitting outside one of the bars to enjoy enjoying a beer & ‘Pastel de Nata’ Portuguese 
custard tart.
Our Portuguese friends drove down from Setubal on 30th December so we had good company for New Year. On New Year’s Eve, the moon was just one day from being full & had a dramatic ring around it. The night was cool, so we build a fire-pit in the back garden & sat round the fire with drinks & the two drums Rob had brought. At midnight, we stood on the roof terrace to watch (& listen to) the fireworks in the local towns in the distance all around us.
The stray black kitten that had arrived a few days earlier (which we had tried not to encourage) loved having some knees to sit on. We hoped that our friends would take it back with them, but they didn’t & it stayed to beg & constantly cry outside.
New Year’s Day was bright, sunny & warm so we walked on Faro beach where there were people actually sunbathing. One man in shorts only, was sat meditating on the sand. It was a lovely way to greet a new year which will hopefully be packed with adventure & new expeiences.
It’s my birthday at the beginning of January & we don’t have space to accommodate physical gifts, but I’d spotted Rooster Quad Tours just down the road.
Perfect!
We’d never tried quad biking so had the beginners tour with a German couple for a morning & loved it! The dull morning brightened-up & we got muddy from the puddles left by the recent rain. Mark & Claire from Rooster looked after us & a week later we booked for another longer & faster ride with an English couple. The Algarve has a surprising amount of undeveloped green space with many off-road tracks through the hills so we saw views that wouldn’t otherwise be visible from the car.
We’d known almost immediately that the Algarve cottage was a great place to stay so quickly extended our booking, first by one month & then another. The house will be occupied from Easter, so we need to move on 24th March.